#460
Survival Of The Not-So-Neo Banks?

Flutterwave appoints Marshall Lux, Former Chief Risk Officer at JPMorgan Chase, as Senior Advisor - Marshall brings 30 years of experience from BCG, JP Morgan Chase and Mckinsey, with extensive experience in model building, stress testing, portfolio management and optimization, line setting and increases, fraud, regulation, cyber, and operations risk. Read more

JPMorgan Chase gives some customers early payday deposits - The feature — which accelerates payments including payroll, tax refunds, pensions and government benefits by up to two days — debuts for Secure Banking customers starting this week. Read more

Mobile bank N26 launches cryptocurrency trading with Bitpanda partnership - N26 customers with a verified identity can access N26 Crypto from the “Trading” section within their N26 app’s new “Finances” tab. Thus, they can buy crypto from their fiat bank account. The transaction fee is set at 1.5% for BTC and 2.5% for other currencies for the usual accounts with some extra discounts for N26 metallic card holders. Read more

Goldman Sachs folds Marcus into wealth management unit - Launched in 2016, Marcus has so far managed to attract 13 million customers, with deposits of more than $100 billion. However, the bank is now set to refocus on its traditional strengths, reorganized into three division: the asset and wealth management unit, a trading and investment banking business, and a platform solutions division housing retail operations such as the Apple credit card and transaction banking. Read more

Lloyds Bank launches combined spending and savings account for kids - The spending account works just like a current account, with a contactless Visa debit card to use in shops, online and at cash machines. The saving account gives instant access savings, helping kids to get into the habit of saving regularly towards long term goals. Read more

Banks are discovering that holding cash can be lucrative again - Wall Street giants and scrappy start-ups alike this week have reported substantial jumps in net interest for the quarter that ended on September 30. Slow moving custodian Bank of New York Mellon was among the biggest winners, with a 44 per cent increase year on year. Now that holding cash can be lucrative again, of course more financial institutions want it. But competition is rising. Read more

Mastercard launches 'Crypto Source' For financial institutions - MasterCard has announced the launch of 'Crypto Source,' a new program that aims to assist financial institutions in offering their clients crypto services. The new Mastercard program was made in collaboration with Paxos, a crypto-focused trading platform that is currently backed by PayPal. For the partnership, Paxos will offer asset management and trading services, while MasterCard will primarily concentrate on security tools and regulatory compliance. Read more

The stubborn persistence of paper in a digital world - The FT Magazine dives into US tax preparation and filing and chats to H&R Block about the stubborn persistence of paper in what could/should be much easier task performed digitally. The CEO thinks the reason behind this is that humans still like doing business face to face. Read more

Amazon launches UK portal for buying insurance - Amazon is launching a portal for buying insurance in the UK, challenging established price comparison sites in the latest indication of Big Tech’s growing ambitions in financial services. Read more

JPMorgan Adds Crypto Policy Head After Dimon ‘Ponzi Scheme’ Quip - JPMorgan Chase has hired a new head of digital assets regulatory policy, less than a month after CEO Jamie Dimon told lawmakers that cryptocurrencies are “decentralized Ponzi schemes.” Read more

Real-Estate Agents Turn to TikTok and Instagram Reels to Market Properties—and Themselves - The creator economy has come to real-estate! One realtor, now dubbed “The Snapping Realtor,” by primarily using Instagram and its Reels feature to highlight new listings has boosted his earnings in five years from $50,000 a year in real estate (and still waiting tables) to at least $500,000 annually, though this year he expects that to be closer to $700,000. Read more

The ‘Merge’ did not fix Ethereum - This opinion piece in the FT argues that the switch in the way the Ethereum blockchain works, while improving its green credentials, is leading to increased centralization of the network and potentially how regulators view it. Read more

The work dynamic between IT and cyber leaders is changing as digital fortification becomes more urgent - In a year of high-profile cyberattacks, chief information officers say cybersecurity has sprinted up their agenda and got them working more closely than ever with chief information security officers. Read more

White House issues ‘Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights’ - Guidelines are aimed at safeguarding personal data from misuse in artificial-intelligence algorithms that drive hiring, lending and other business decisions. The guidelines do not include enforcement measures, and also fall short of the European Union’s landmark privacy regulation. Read more

Visa partners with FTX in a bet that shoppers still want to spend cryptocurrencies in a bear market - Visa and FTX are offering debit cards in 40 countries with a focus on Latin America, Asia and Europe. The cards, which are already available in the U.S., will link directly to a user’s FTX cryptocurrency investing account. The move allows customers to spend digital currencies without moving those off an exchange. Read more

Facebook parent Meta ordered to sell Giphy after losing fight in U.K. - Meta, then known as Facebook, bought Giphy in May 2020 for $315 million. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority initially ordered Meta to sell Giphy last year. Meta said this week that they are disappointed by the order, but won’t appeal the decision further. Read more

Visa, Mastercard Draw New Government Scrutiny Over Debit-Card Routing - The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Visa and Mastercard security tokens restrict debit-card routing competition on online payments, according to people familiar with the matter. The FTC for the past few years has already been probing whether Visa and Mastercard block merchants from routing payments over other debit-card networks. The networks acknowledged an FTC probe in regulatory filings in recent years. Read more